Power Saving
Due to it raining everywhere else in the country apart from where all our hydro lakes are, New Zealander's are being asked to make power usage savings to avoid blackouts this winter. All over the country people are changing all their light bulbs to those energy saving ones, switching off things that aren't in use, doing dishes by hand instead of in the dishwasher, taking shorter showers, cold washing everything, using hot water bottles instead of the electric blanket...the list goes on. All these measures are having an effect. Across the country our overall electricity usage is down by about three percent.
I got my power bill the other day, and yes, there was a reduction in usage compared to this time last year; not a big one, but a reduction nevertheless. On the back of the bill, at the bottom where I never look, there was a message. My electricity retailer has been 'absorbing' some sort of cost that has 'increased more than five fold' over the past few months. They can no longer keep absorbing these costs so they will be passed on to us, the consumer. It's not a huge cost, about two dollars a month, but I find myself wondering at the timing of the increase. Electricity is costing them no more to produce, but hey, those prime time television advertisements and full page newspaper ads asking us to reduce our power consumption must be making a dent in somebody's pocket. Add to that the fact that we are making those reductions and someone, somewhere, is losing out. I suspect that they can't realistically raise the price of electricity while asking us to reduce our consumption, after all, the cost of producing the power hasn't really increased, but they have to maintain their profit margins somehow.
I can't help but wonder how many other unavoidable surcharges are going to be added to my power account before this 'crisis' is over. If we keep saving, as we're being asked to, will the costs keep rising? I, for one, would welcome the sight of a few wind fields across the country, at least it would prove that we are not bound by the power companies.
I got my power bill the other day, and yes, there was a reduction in usage compared to this time last year; not a big one, but a reduction nevertheless. On the back of the bill, at the bottom where I never look, there was a message. My electricity retailer has been 'absorbing' some sort of cost that has 'increased more than five fold' over the past few months. They can no longer keep absorbing these costs so they will be passed on to us, the consumer. It's not a huge cost, about two dollars a month, but I find myself wondering at the timing of the increase. Electricity is costing them no more to produce, but hey, those prime time television advertisements and full page newspaper ads asking us to reduce our power consumption must be making a dent in somebody's pocket. Add to that the fact that we are making those reductions and someone, somewhere, is losing out. I suspect that they can't realistically raise the price of electricity while asking us to reduce our consumption, after all, the cost of producing the power hasn't really increased, but they have to maintain their profit margins somehow.
I can't help but wonder how many other unavoidable surcharges are going to be added to my power account before this 'crisis' is over. If we keep saving, as we're being asked to, will the costs keep rising? I, for one, would welcome the sight of a few wind fields across the country, at least it would prove that we are not bound by the power companies.
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